"Encounter"

Dear WRC,

A couple weeks ago I was able to participate in a preaching conference called “Behold” in Holland, MI. I showed up to the conference a little tired and worn out. I also showed up aware that I’ve been a little distant from God lately. I’ve been in a season when I’ve been going through the motions but not feeling much. I want to be near to God, but haven’t been feeling that way. Days will go by when God isn’t much more than a passing thought. I have been distracted, distant.

When I’m in that place, I’m not always sure how to get out. It’s hard to muscle up more discipline to seek God. I know that trying harder or trying to be more sincere are seldom the answer. I want to experience God and God’s presence, but it seems fleeting. I know that I can’t manufacture that feeling, but it doesn’t necessarily stop me from trying. As I arrived at the opening prayer service, I was aware of two things: I desperately wanted to encounter the Living God and I didn’t think there was any chance that was going to happen.

Faith in today’s world is hard. I don’t mean that because of all that’s going on around us, it’s difficult to believe there could be a God. I mean that there is something about our age that means those of us who believe in God can go days or weeks without even thinking about Him. Our collective imagination is so dominated by the material world around us that there is almost no room left for a sense of transcendence. We feel that the world is cut off or closed in, and God—when we think of Him—seems so far away. People experience that sometimes as doubt in God’s existence, we wonder if maybe we’ve made this all up.

Turns out this is exactly what the first lecture at the conference was about. The speaker (Andrew Root) argued that in today’s world all belief has become fragile. Our belief in God, but also the atheist’s belief in no god. This is just part of the cultural water we swim in (the reasons for that are long and heavy and aren’t the point of this letter, but we could talk about them if you want!). His point is that this just is and we should acknowledge it. He also believes something beautiful happens when we also learn to talk about those moments when God breaks through and shocks us with presence and beauty and wonder. He said that one of our roles as preachers is to help people notice those moments when they encounter God and pause to remain open.

So, here goes. I showed up tired and feeling far from God. I wanted to feel God’s presence, but wasn’t really sure how. Well, God showed up. It’s hard to give words to what exactly happened. It wasn’t a lightning bolt realization; it was more of a slow burn. We began the conference with evening prayers on Monday. We read a Psalm, we sang some songs, we prayed together, and we listened to the Bible. As we did, something happened within me, the same surprising thing I bet you have experienced in a worship service every so often. Something opens up inside you. You begin to hear more than just the words. They begin to hit you in a way you weren’t expecting. A line from a song touches something in your soul and you begin to resonate. For some reason the beauty of God’s grace and the gift of Jesus hits you again. All of that happened.

I point this out because I—yes, even I the pastor—experience that same fragileness of faith. I wonder sometimes, I am distracted sometimes, but what I find even more surprising are the moments of grace and beauty when I am encountered by something so much larger than myself, so far beyond what I could dream up, so much more still than my anxious, searching heart. I believe that these are encounters with the Living God.

My own faith is so deeply nourished when I hear stories of other people meeting God, so here I humbly submit my own. It was Monday, May 11, 2026 shortly before dinner and God came to meet me, to gather me back together, to sooth my scattered heart, and remind me of what I know is true: God is alive and well.

In Christ,

Pastor Andy